8 Great Lessons Learned Through Sports

Final Drill was built upon a vision of previous experiences in sports and the challenges that came along with it. Many of the great lessons learned from sports filtered into great qualities found within leaders today, and these lessons positively impact other areas of life. The following lessons are some of the most influential we believe sports have taught us here at Final Drill.

1. Commitment

You have a commitment to your coach, your teammates, and yourself. You have a commitment to become better and be the best you can be. Sport teaches you to stay committed and push your limits and to pull through and finish what you've started even when it gets tough.

2. Teamwork

Teamwork makes the dreamwork. Unless you play an individual sport, you typically have many teammates relying on you. The understanding of a team mentality is a positive lesson to learn in order for you to learn that the way to win and succeed in achieving a common goal is by working together. You learn that you can’t carry the team alone, and you grow an appreciation for the success you accomplish with your peers when you work together as a collective unit.

3. Work Ethic

You develop a work ethic that enables you to be the best you can be while encouraging others around you to be their best selves. You are committed to finishing a task, finishing one more rep, not letting your team down, and not letting yourself down. Giving 100% is never enough and simply the bare minimum. You learn the true meaning of giving 110%.

4. Time Management

Between various commitments of your family, school, or career, sports provide a great lesson in learning how to balance various priorities in your life. Learning to coordinate your time ahead for practices and games not only sets you up for success as an athlete, but also in various areas of your personal and professional life. Athletes that learn this lesson become great leaders and tend to be very well-organized.

5. Accountability

Reaching your athletic goals is tied to your ability to hold yourself accountable. Having a motivational coach or personal trainer definitely helps boost this quality within you, but at the end of the day, this characteristic is something you'll need to rely on yourself. As great as your skillsets may be, pushing yourself beyond your limits has to come from your own willingness to hold yourself accountable. Muhammad Ali once said, “Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

6. Humility

You'll never win every competition you compete in. You learn to reflect and improve on what went wrong and know how it feels to lose, so when you win you’re humble and learn to respect your opponent. You learn that to be a decent person, humility is huge. Humility goes a long way and defines what kind of person you are. With a good coach and early experience, you learn this lesson quite quickly.

7. Being Prepared

Preparation is the key to success, simple as that. Whether that is running one more mile at practice, getting taped and massaged before a game, eating the right meals, and getting the proper amount of rest. You learn routines and what works and what doesn’t in order to maximize your abilities to grow and flourish.

8. Never Give Up

“You have no choices about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again." - Pat Riley

Developing an attitude that persists, despite setbacks or obstacles, establishes a strong mentality that helps you overcome challenges within and outside of sports. This greatly impacts your perception and attitude when encountering challenges. As Pat Riley best puts it, "the choice is yours if you want to get back up." Great leaders and professional athletes of our generation are accomplished in various aspects of their lives due to curating a mindset to not give up. Sports have helped athletes from all backgrounds learn to handle obstacles throughout their journey, which translates into a strong mindset when approaching all other aspects of life.

What are your thoughts on these lessons learned through sports, and do you have any experiences of your own that relate to some of them? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below and don't forget to subscribe to The Playbook for the latest news and updates!